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A lawsuit brought against Apple Computer, Inc. leads a lawyer with an AI background to a secret Apple facility where he plans to participate in a deposition with Apple CEO Tim Cook. When he arrives at the research compound, he is invited on a tour that reveals just how far Apple has come in the development of artificial intelligence. As Mark’s stay at the facility lingers through the Easter weekend, he learns that “Apple has developed a proprietary chip that is placed in people, and when implanted, the people become part of a grid, networked.” He also observes androids that pass for humans and begins to see that his presence at the facility is by design. The AI work and research he abandoned years ago have new implications in this evolving world that melds man and machine. With one last revelation, Mark comes face to face with a resurrected Steve Jobs who tries to convince him to network his own mind and continue his research in the ultimate pursuit to “evolve or die.”
This fascinating novel transports readers into the world of Apple and into its relentless pursuit to create a networked human mind with all of the possibilities that come with that kind of mastery. With ruminations on free will, creator interference, and the god-like symbolism of Steve Jobs, author Hart soars into the future with an audacious vision for readers to behold. Alongside Mark, readers will wrestle with the implications of setting this technology loose in the world. In the confines of the Apple paradise, the networked humans and the androids are thriving in the small-scale environment. As Mark engages with the AI developers, growing closer to one in particular, he asks the probing questions that poke and prod at our collective worry over the potential power of the machines and the all-consuming presence of the networked hive mind. Bold and enthralling, this futuristic tale feels fiercely plausible and convincingly cautionary.
Some writers, like Hart, fearlessly face the future, staring at it with open minds and wide eyes. They are philosophers and ethicists, humanists and technophiles, soothsayers and advisors. Science fiction writers wear many hats as they imagine a world to come, standing on the threshold of uncertainty and possibility. Hart’s ideas about the future are grounded in a well-written story that moves along easily with insight and pace. Incorporating provocative details and compelling characters allows the story to take hold and for the implications to swirl. As Mark weighs the decision to be networked and merge his mind with Apple, he feels seduced and tempted by the power to shape the future on a grand scale, changing the trajectory of humanity. But he also wonders what he will lose in the process, such as privacy, individuality, and autonomy. The resurrected Steve Jobs, with his human brain intact inside an android body, argues persuasively with Mark for the inevitable future of man and machine. The religious imagery the author includes in the narrative adds another layer of thought-provoking content and commentary on the power of technology and the fervor of artificial intelligence. Readers will be riveted by the second coming of Steve Jobs and the desire of Apple to create “gods in man’s image.”
RECOMMENDED by the US Review